We woke up in the morning and it was snowing.  A perfect day to ski and ride fresh powder.  The visibility was not good at the top of the mountain so we stayed on the lower trails.  My Princess came out with us after lunch.  It was her first day skiing with the group.  Crazy Ka Yee Yee (crazy because she’s always off the trails in the woods, Yee Yee means auntie in Chinese) wanted my Princess to do tricks so she taught her to hop on her skis.  This is the prelude to hitting jumps…yikes!  I caught the air of one of her hops.  The hops are so adorable.

My Grouchy husband followed my Princess down the trails.  We took her on a intermediate blue square trail because she did so well at ski school yesterday.

Ka Yee Yee riding next to my Princess.

My Princess took a little tumble and Ka Yee Yee dusted the snow off her legs and helped her up.

Then gave her a hug for confidence to go and ski like a rock star.

My Baby is too little to go skiing but she came out to see us ski down the trail.  Hopefully next year we’ll be able to put her on skis.

Tired after two days of riding mama,
Chrissy xoxo

Day two in Colorado was a mountain day.  We got up early in the morning, ate breakfast, and then headed to the base lodge to pick up our lift tickets and drop my Princess off at ski school.  I never take my goggles off on the mountain except during our lunch break because they will fog up the rest of the day so all of the pictures of me I am hidden behind them and it’s great!  Sometimes I’m not even looking at the camera for the picture but you would never know it.  The morning was beautiful, blue sky, sunshine, cold but no wind.

It’s been a few years since riding out West.  After having two babies, I’m not as fast as I use to be (and I wasn’t that fast to start with), I don’t have the courage to ride in the trees (and I only use to ride in the trees closest to the groomed trails), and wouldn’t even consider going out on the mountain without my knee pads and wrist guards.  But today I’m proud to say I did a few diamonds, wasn’t always the last one down the mountain, and followed my crazy cousin Karyn down some powdery, ungroomed terrain that I mostly regretted half way down.

By the middle of the day, it was overcast, but the mountain still looked amazing.

My crazy cousin Karyn and I in the gondola.

My Grouchy Husband and I in the gondola.  Love that I’m behind my goggles in each picture.  The gondola is a great time to take pictures and I can remember pictures of us before two kids, before two mortgages, before the hot dog shop, before getting married, boy does that feel like forever ago.

Right after lunch my Grouchy Husband, Karyn and I caught up with my Princess (orange jacket, off-white pants) heading to the gondola with her ski school class.

Coming off the gondola with her fellow orange vest schoolmate.  We found out that everyone in her class was five and six years old.  It was a great feeling to know she could ski with the older kids.

Snapping into her skis.  Watching these little ones is so cute.

Taking a break to snap a picture with her Mama.

She might be a skier during the day, but at night she turns into Red Riding Hood.

A tired and soon-to-be-achey mama in the morning,
Chrissy xoxo

Today we left for a ski vacation at Steamboat in Colorado.  My Aunt Alice puts together a ski trip every year out West.  We haven’t gone in a couple of years because I was pregnant and then my Baby was too little to fly to a cold place, but now that my Princess has learned how to ski, we are excited to start attending again.  This year there is a big group going, sixteen adults and two little ones.  Besides my Aunt and Uncle and my parents, another Aunt and Uncle, my sister and brother, and a bunch of my cousins are going.  It’s going to be a really fun time.

Even though we woke the girls up at 5am, they were so excited and full of energy at the airport.

I’m not going to lie, the first leg of the trip was tough.  Isabella was awake the whole three hour ride and needed to be entertained.  She did some drawing and played with her stickers, played with the iPhone, but mostly ate.  She ate almost all of my snacks I had packed for both flights of the trip!

Thankfully, she slept the whole second flight.  She fell asleep right after eating my last snack.

We flew into Hayden, Colorado, a small airport near Steamboat.  The great thing about flying into a ski town is that almost everyone on the plane is going to do the same thing…ski or snowboard!  Everyone is excited so the plane ride is filled with conversations of where people are staying, how many times people have been to Steamboat, what are the best trails, great ski stories, where to go apres ski.  I love listening.

We finally made it to Colorado!  The girls were so excited.  Coming from New York where there are three major airports, I really appreciate small airports.  It took us three minutes to walk off the plane and get to baggage claim.  We had our baggage in the next ten minutes and were ready to leave the airport.

 

This is the view from the condo.  I can’t wait to see someone hit that jump.

We got to Colorado around 1pm.  My Princess wanted to ski so badly so my Dad and Uncle took her out for a little while.  She has only experienced East Coast snow and trails so the fresh powder and long trails in the West are new for her.  She had a blast and now wants to get her skis waxed so she can go faster!  After skiing, my Grouchy Husband took the girls out to play in the snow.  He used a sled to make a path from the condo to the trail so we could ski right out and avoid the lift.  My Princess had a good time sledding with him to make the path.  It got pretty fast after a few times and she loved it.

My Baby was busy playing in the snow and making mini snowballs.

She saw how much fun her sister was having so she wanted to sled down also.  She took a turn with my Grouchy Husband and had a big smile on her face.  They didn’t want to take turns sledding so my Grouchy Husband tried to take them down together but they didn’t like being squished.  I was relieved, the path was already pretty fast, the weight of three of them would have made it even faster.

My Baby loves to eat.  She was just walking around the condo pouting her big lips so people would give her food.  One time she had her eye on my Uncle Billy’s beer!  See those dumplings on the table.  They are a part of all my family gatherings.  These were my Mom’s pork and chicken recipe.  Delicious!

My Uncle Davy just got a new computer and he did not know how to turn it on so my sister and Aunt Martha are trying to help him.  Who doesn’t know how to turn on a computer?!  Haha.  My Uncle Davy is one of my Dad’s brothers, most of the brothers including my Dad are engineers, he is an accountant, maybe that’s where his short comings come from…haha.

My Dad loves playing with the girls, not usually at the same time, but here he is keeping them both busy with Elmo videos and a game of Uno.

My Aunt Alice and Mom go to the grocery store everyday to make sure the refrigerator looks like this everytime you open it.

I just got here and I already ate too much food.  Beef stew for lunch, dumplings for snack, then peas and chicken with a fried egg for dinner, and then more dumplings for dinner.  I heard the word dessert and just had to upstairs and hide.

A Colorado Dumpling Mama for the next week,
Chrissy

Today was the last day of ski school.  Boy did these six weeks fly by.  Words cannot express how happy I am with the experience.  My Princess can now take the chair lift and ski down the mountain by herself.  As a mom, it is such an amazing feeling to watch your babies learn something new and be so proud of themselves.  My Princess loves to ski and I know it has a lot to do with allowing her to pick whatever she wants at the snack bar after her lesson and download any app she wants on my phone and play it on the way home.  It doesn’t matter how painful it has been to buy a bag of potato chips after each lesson, she loves to ski so it was all worth it.

Here the girls were resting a little bit before getting ready for ski school.

First run of the day.  Taking the chair lift like a pro.

Coming down the mountain all by herself.  No edgie wedgie!  She can “pizza” just fine.

Looking tired after ski school.  Her instructor Katherine carrying her skis out for her.

Relaxing and enjoying the beautiful day before changing out of her ski boots.

Getting a big hug from her little sister for doing such a great job at ski school.

Princess – if you read this one day, mama is so so so proud that you learned how to ski and so so so excited for all of the great ski experiences we will share.  Mama loves you always.

We just finished a weekend of celebrating Chinese New Year.  Chinese New Year is my third favorite holiday, after my birthday and Christmas.  I love seeing family, eating, and all of the exchanges of good fortune for the coming year.  Here are some of my favorite moments.

When we celebrate with my family, we go out to dinner at my (paternal) Grandfather’s favorite restaurant in Chinatown in memory of him.  There are always two tables reserved, one for the elders, and one for the elder’s children.  My Grouchy husband and I still sit at the children table even though we have children ourselves.  The elders threaten to move our seats to their table, oh I hope that never happens.

Dinner consists of all our favorites and good luck dishes like long life noodles, whole chicken and lobster.  There is always too much food.  This is a picture of the table at the end of the meal when we were all full.  It looks like we didn’t even eat.

My Baby worked hard to eat her long life noodles.  She’s just 17-months old, she’s got a lot of life to live.

One noodle got stuck on her nose and she couldn’t figure out how to get it off.  It was so cute!

My dad and his brothers.  This is the one holiday they are all together so I was happy to get a picture.

My dad and uncles always celebrate the New Year with a bottle of whiskey.

This year our celebration was the same day as my brother’s birthday.  He’s over six feet tall.  This picture of him blowing out candles on top of a Carvel cake (his favorite) makes me laugh.

My girls were dressed head to toe in good luck pink.  My Princess wanted them both to wear their tutus.

We celebrate Chinese New Year with my Grouchy Husband’s family at his aunt’s apartment in the city.  At most family gatherings the girls are usually the only little ones which is ok because they get to play with their adult uncles and aunties.  But at this gathering, Jeff’s cousin comes with his two kids so the girls have a blast playing with other kids.

Desserts are a big part of Chinese New Year because their sweetness symbolize a rich, sweet life.  There were so many delicious desserts at my Grouchy Husband’s family gathering.  My Baby is crying in the back because she wants one of the cupcakes badly!

My sister-in-law brought these cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.  They custom made a snake symbol.  These cupcakes are heavenly, the best cupcake I have ever eaten.

Filled with good fortune from all of the New Year celebrating,
Chrissy

Happy Lunar New Year!  According to the lunar calendar, this is the Year of the Snake.  This is an extra special year for me because I was born the Year of the Snake (1977).  People born the year of the Snake are thought to be wise, intelligent, and clever.  The Snake is sometimes called “Little Dragon” because it most closely resembles the Dragon, the most powerful and lucky zodiac.  Some of the luckiness from the Dragon rubs onto people born the year of the snake so 2013 should be a successful year for us.  2013 is the year of the Water Snake, an animal that has an adventurous spirit and loves to take risks.  The color of the 2013 year of the Snake is Black.  The Black Snake is said to bring people unexpected changes and instability.

I am very excited this is the Year of the Snake.  I very much feel like this will be a year of change.  Even before reading the details of the type and color of snake this year was, I knew there would be big changes for me this year.  Here’s why.

Out of baby-making, settling into baby-raising.  I take care of two little ones, one and five.  I can say with absolute certainty we will not be having any more little ones.  I love them both endlessly but I am a mama that can only physically, mentally, and financially handle two.  And anyways, ski lifts seat four and rounds of golf are in groups of four…haha.  I am out of the baby-making, all-day morning sickness, breast pumping mindset, and now focused on raising my babies, preschool, ski school.  I want to help my girls become themselves and amazing people.

Finding Our Relationship.  Life gets complicated when you have babies.  Throw in going from a working mama to a stay-at-home mama, starting a business, moving into my parent’s house, and life becomes almost impossible.  I miss having a relationship with my Grouchy Husband outside of grocery lists, car pool schedules, bedtime routines.  I miss our relationship and I want it back.

Finding Work.  Along with not having any more little ones, I can say with absolute certainty, I am a mama that needs to work.  Work is a part of me, it’s something I enjoy, it’s something I miss.

I’m both excited and anxious for this year.
To all my fellow Snakes, I wish you much success in the changes in store for you this year.

Year of the Snake mama,
Chrissy

The girls went outside to enjoy snow storm Nemo this afternoon.  After some snow angels and snow castles, they decided to make a snowman.  My Princess started with a itty bitty snowball and because the snow was so wet, it got big fast.

My Baby used the snow in the air to make her snowball.  Because she was so bundled up, she couldn’t bend down to the snow on the floor.

My sister was in town for Chinese New Year so she helped roll the balls for the snowman.

The first snowball was done.  My Baby was so excited it was so big.

The making of a fine snowman.

Finished!  My Princess did such a good job.  She found the sticks for the arms and pushed in the rocks for the eyes and buttons.  The best (and only) snowman on the block.

Snowman maker assistant,
Dumpling Mama

We headed up to Killington for the yearly celebration for my dad and Uncle Ronnie’s (my dad’s best friend) birthdays.   I had not gone in a couple of years because I was pregnant and then my Baby was too little so I was very excited to see everyone and celebrate.  This year was also a very special year because my Princess was learning to ski so she would be on the mountain with us.  We enrolled her in ski school in the morning so that she could get use to the mountain and my Grouchy husband and I could spend some time snowboarding.  It’s been a couple of years since I was on my snowboard so I was nervous and having babies has changed my body so I have to figure out my balance all over again.  It was like riding a bike so after a few runs, everything came back.  The best part of the day was after my Princess finished ski school, she rode the ski lift for the first time and we got to ski with her down two trails.  It was a feeling of being so proud, her growing up so fast, seeing our family all on the ski mountain together some day soon, all at the same time.

This is what apres ski looks like for a 4-year-old…m&m’s and apple juice.  While eating her m&m’s, my dad told my Princess that this was a special day for him because he got to ski with his granddaughter.  My dad is not a man of many words so this melted my heart.

And of course after a day of skiing, we ate lots and lots of dumplings (and noodles, and brie, and cookies, and wine, and…).  Aunt Cheryl made these dumplings…not bad for a Jewish mama.

The girls adored Sami.
This was my Baby’s first time in Killington.  She stayed inside Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Cheryl’s condo the whole weekend and had the time of her life.

Both girls had such a great time.  Though they were the only kids, they didn’t have any problem finding people to play with.

Me and my girls.

The girls and their dada.  My Grouchy Husband always has to remind me that I cannot say they are “my” girls when they are also his.

The new couples at the Killington birthday weekend.  Sami and her new husband Mike.  My sister, Kimbie, and her fiance Mike.  It was sometimes a little confusing with so many Mike’s in the house.
Tired after skiing but still smiling.  I was upstairs taking a nap.
The birthday boys (and non-birthday granddaughter) in front of their birthday cake.  This was an ice box cake Aunt Cheryl made and it was unbelievably delicious.  She told me the recipe and it’s super easy so I’m going to give it a try.

The birthday boys with their birthday gifts…which are usually something “Star Trek” or “Old Guys Rule” themed.  This year my sister bought them engineer t-shirts.  Only engineers (which they both are) could be so excited and wear with so much pride.

Happy Birthday Dad and Uncle Ronnie!
Thank you Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Cheryl for hosting another wonderful celebration!

Chrissy xoxo

 

This week at ski school we had a special visitor…Dada!  My Grouchy Husband works a lot so anytime he can be with the girls they are just besides themselves thrilled.  And I’m thrilled to have an extra set of helping hands.  Ski school starts with helping my Princess get her gear on.

My Baby waits patiently for her sister…

…and waits.I try to grab a picture of the girls smiling.

My Princess giving my Baby some pointers on skiing.  After two lessons she is experienced enough to do this…haha!

My Princess was so happy to have her dada with her at ski school.  He stood outside for most of the lesson watching her go up and down the magic carpet in the cold.  The things only dadas will do…

Today was my Princess’ first day of ski school and she was fantastic.  She started out the day a little nervous but she had her “edgie wedgie” (little green elastic clipped to the tip of her skis to keep them together) to give her a little bit of confidence.

The class is tiny with only one other little boy and Catherine the ski instructor.  Catherine has great energy and super attentive to her two students.  I’m really happy she will be their teacher for the next six weeks.

She caught an edge and was going to fall…

but with grace and skill never touched the ground and stood back up…I like to think she gets that from me.  My Grouchy Husband would of course disagree.

All smiles at the end of her lesson.  I love smiles.

My Baby was the biggest cheerleader.  Literally, the “biggest” in her snow pants and double jackets.  The pants were so puffy her jacket wouldn’t go past the middle of her chest.  She wanted to ski so badly.  I can’t wait for the day the girls are both out on the mountain.

Proud mama of a first day of ski school graduate,
Chrissy